Planned Parenthood endorses Hillary Clinton & other big news

TGIF! Only a few more hours before you can hit the town, or at least Netflix and chill. But first wake up with these news headlines.

1. D-jerk

Maine governor Paul LePage used what some are calling racially charged language to describe drug traffickers in the state. Speaking at a town hall meeting, LePage discussed legislation aimed at combatting drug traffickers, saying, “These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty. These type of guys. They come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, then they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave…” Even members of the GOP, LePage’s own party, commented that this is the most offensive thing they’ve heard from the governor yet. Maybe he’s hoping to win a Trumpie. — CNN

2. Common sense

President Obama penned an op-ed in The New York Times discussing not only the executive actions he is taking on gun control as president, but also stating that in his role as a private citizen he won’t campaign for, vote for or support in any way a candidate who doesn’t champion common-sense gun legislation. The executive actions Obama announced this week are relatively low impact but nonetheless have whipped gun rights supporters into a tizzy. — The New York Times

3. Extreme reactions

The Feds have arrested two Middle East refugees in the United States on terrorism charges. In California a man is accused of helping a group affiliated with ISIS but not ISIS itself, which he had said he wouldn’t join because it was killing fellow Muslims. The other in Texas is suspected of providing support to extremists. Texas’s governor immediately criticized the Obama administration’s policies on refugees fleeing Syria. Both men arrested were Palestinians who were born in Iraq. — NBC News

4. The right candidate for women’s rights

Planned Parenthood will endorse Hillary Clinton on Sunday, the first time in the organization’s 100-year history that it has publicly supported a primary candidate. This comes on the heels of proposed Republican legislation to defund the health care organization. This early endorsement is anticipated to mobilize supporters and free up millions of dollars for her campaign. Clinton has noted that there has never been a more important election for women’s health care and reproductive rights, and evidently Planned Parenthood agrees with her. — The Washington Post

5. Not so brief

One hundred thirteen female attorneys have shared their abortion stories with the Supreme Court in an amicus brief filed in the case Whole Women’s Health v. Cole. The brief is intended to illuminate the positive, real-world experiences of women who’ve had abortions; the case is a challenge to Texas’s extreme laws that would close most of the state’s abortion clinics. Anthony Kennedy is expected to be the swing vote, and Kennedy has demonstrated in the past both that he is particularly swayed by personal stories and that he believes that women who have had abortions come to regret them. Spoiler: not true. — Slate

6. Terror lab

Authorities in Belgium said they have discovered a fingerprint, traces of explosives and belts following a raid on an apartment in Brussels in December. They believe the occupants of the apartment are connected to the December attacks in Paris that killed 130 people. The prosecutor said the apartment was probably used as a hideout and a bomb-making lab during the planning stages of the attack. Ten people have been arrested in Belgium for their suspected involvement in the attacks; they are believed to have a connection with Salah Abdeslam, a fugitive and the brother of one of the dead attackers. — BuzzFeed